This invention relates generally to a tamper evident closure and container utilizable therewith, and more specifically to a tamper-evident closure having an inner cap and outer sleeve, and a container employing closure locking members that cooperate with abutment members on the outer sleeve of the closure for aiding in fracturing break-away tabs that interconnect the inner cap and outer sleeve.
The prior art is replete with tamper-evident closures in which a member of the closure, such as a lower skirt or band, is designed to become separated from an upper cap section when the closure is removed from a container for the first time. Thus, if the closure is opened prior to the package being purchased by a consumer, the separated (or missing) skirt or band provides a visual indication that the package has been so opened.
Representative of the above-type of closures are those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,577,770 (Wright); 4,529,096 (Chartier et al.); 4,461,390 (Csaszar); 4,352,436 (Chartier et al.); 4,343,408 (Csaszar); 4,147,268 (Patel et al.); 3,944,102 (Grau); 4,126,240 (Brach); 3,463,341 (Fields); 3,455,478 (Fields et al.); 3,329,295 (Fields); 4,461,391 (Davis) and French No. 1,536,459 (Rapeaud et al.).
In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3 of Davis U.S. Pat. No. 4,461,391 cooperating abutment surfaces 20 and 22 associated with the upper cap and lower skirt, respectively, engage each other as the cap is threaded onto a closure, to thereby prevent interconnecting tabs 4 from fracturing. However, when the cap is unscrewed, inclined surfaces 19 of the cap ride along inclined surfaces 21 of the skirt to thereby cause relative vertical movement between said cap and skirt, thereby assisting in fracturing the tabs 4. A similar arrangement appears to be disclosed in Rapeaud et al. (French Patent No. 1,536,459).
Multi-piece closures having inner and outer, generally concentric cap and skirt members interconnected by break-away tabs are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,938,063, issued to Burke, and U.S. Pat. No. 2,124,873, issued to Conner. In the Burke device an inner cap 15 is screwed onto the finish of a bottle, and an outer sealing member 18 (i.e., a skirt) is screwed onto the thread 14 of the bottle over the cap 15. Thereafter a projection 17 passing through hole 21 of a closure member 20 is spun over the closure member to thereby lock the closure member to the cap 15. The closure member 20 is connected to the sealing member 18 through a recessed, weakened, annular section 22.
When the Burke device is turned in a right-handed direction, the caming thread 14 on the container causes the sealing member 18 thereof to move axially relative to the inner cap 15. This places an axial tension on the locking means 17 and causes the recess 22 to fracture, thereby separating the skirt member 18 from the closure member 20 and attached inner cap 15. The Burke device is somewhat complex, being made from four separate elements (i.e., cap 15, projection 17, sealing member 18 and closure member 20.)
In the device disclosed in Conner, U.S. Pat. No. 2,124,873, in FIG. 6, a primary inner closure or cap 7a includes an upward extension 17 to which a dome 19 of an outer indicator member 4a is permanently attached. The dome 19 is interconnected to an outer peripheral skirt of the indicator member through an annular zone of weakness 21. In this device upward projecting cams 22 on the top of the inner cap 7a cooperate with downwardly projecting cams 23 on the outer skirt of the indicator member 4a to cause relative axial movement between the outer skirt of the indicator member 4a, on the one hand, and the inner cap 7a and the dome 19 connected thereto, on the other hand. This relative axial movement causes the zone of weakness 21 to fracture, thereby separating the outer skirt of the indicator member 4a from the dome 19.
The Conner device, like the Burke device described above, is constructed from more than one separately formed element, and therefore is somewhat complex. Moreover, neither the Burke construction nor the Conner construction employ cooperating projections on the outer skirt and inner cap for the purpose of assisting in the cap closing operation.
To the best of applicant's knowledge no one has designed or developed, prior to this invention, a unitary, tamper-evident closure formed of an inner cap member interconnected to a concentrically mounted outer sleeve by break-away tabs, and wherein the closure can be applied to a container by conventional capping equipment, without causing the break-away tabs to fracture. It is to such a unitary closure and cooperating container that the present invention is directed.